We're heading to 길
Houston, we're getting an incredible view of the Earth from up here.
Forest, the oceans, snow on the mountains, and so far all the way to the west.
We've got a spectacular view today.
The natural beauty of Yosemite National Park.
Ice here.
Before man could fly, before we even dreamed of viewing the Earth from space,
one remarkable man stood just down there,
and he had a vision.
He saw in his mind's eye 100 years ago what we have only recently seen in satellite photographs.
The spectacle of Earth, our nature planet, of clouds, mountains, and forests.
The man who had this vision led a legendary life.
A life of great discoveries.
Mysterious events.
And daring high adventures.
And it was a life destined to help save the wild lands and wildlife.
The wild beauty of our planet.
His life was like no other in all history.
And his name was John Muir.
And now the story of John Muir, recounted by Thayer Walker.
Across an ocean, our story begins in another place, another time.
Here in Scotland on the windswept coast of the North Sea is the small village called Dunbar.
It's peopled mostly by fishermen and by farmers who live in weathered graystone cemeteries.
The fishermen go out on the North Sea mostly after herring and whitefish.
And the farmers, they try to eke a meager living out of the rolling Scottish countryside by planting barley and potatoes.
But life here has never been easy.
The North Sea can be fierce and it's almost always a wintry neighbor.
And some years the fishing is not good.
And the storms come early, and the weather is bad.
The fishing is not good, and the storms come early, and the crops, the crops fail.
But good year or bad, it didn't make much difference really because new generations just kept right on coming.
And all the births were recorded here at the Dunbar Town Hall.
And there was one birth in particular, the birth of a boy baby just down the street there whose last name was Muir.
Muir in the Scottish tongue means moor or a stretch of wild land.
Muir, wild land.
Think of it, one of nature's fine ironies really.
Because it's hard to imagine a more appropriate name for a man whose entire life would be spent in pursuit of and in love with everything that was wild.
Descended from the Scots Highlanders, he was born into a hearty race of proud people.
All sharing a special warmth, born in a feeling for their folk history, their Scottish stories and songs.
It is said that every Scot carries a Highland song with him through life.
And the child born here to Anne and Daniel Muir would be no different.
They named their child John. John Muir.
As soon as John is old enough to walk, his proud grandfather begins to take him on daily strolls up the main street.
And with grandfather's help, John's first ABCs are learned from the shop signs hanging up and down High Street.
John appreciated the attention his grandfather gave him because his own father, who was the town's grain and food merchant, was usually too busy.
Either tending his shop or going to church or reading his Bible to spend very much time with his children.
And Daniel Muir, John's father, was a very good friend of his.